This classic and initially controversial book remains perhaps the most widely read portrait of the explosion of the “Little Boy” atomic bomb over Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945. Hersey maintains strict journalistic objectivity in describing the human toll of the bombing. He tells the stories of six average people who experienced, and survived, the destruction. The people include two doctors, two men of faith, a female clerk and a seamstress. The story of what it was like near ground zero on that fateful morning unfolds from their unique perspectives. Hersey’s text is devoid of the popular statistics that categorize and measure the tragedy. Instead, he offers lyrical images of the flash and the shock wave, and demonstrates in human terms the inhuman, ghastly nature of atomic warfare. A chapter added in later editions details what happened later to each of the six individuals.